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Content
Outline for Maawanji'iding
The document below is
a text "map" including descriptions of the content areas of
"Maawanji'iding."
An Outline of general content areas. This is a working
document only - all feedback is welcome.The purpose of this
document is to give teachers an overview of the kinds of
information available in this digital archive.
Notes on program navigation are in italics.
Title
screens and introductory material
The program opens with a series of maps revealing the
villages that make up the vast Anishinaabe Nation on both
sides of the U.S. / Canadian border. The focus then zooms in
to the 6 Ojibwe communities in Northern Wisconsin that are
at the heart of this interactive archive. Most of the
speakers and images on this disc originate from these
communities: Lac Courte Oreilles, Lac du Flambeau, Mole
Lake, Red Cliff, St. Croix, and Bad River. The opening
sequence concludes at the TITLE screen, where there is
introductory information to choose from before exploring the
main content of the program.
Choose from the 3 shimmering beaded flowers that appear on
the Title screen and click once for more introductory
information to Maawanji' iding.
Tobacco
Storyteller Jerry Smith, from Lac Courte Oreilles, reflects
on the meaningful offering of "asema" (tobacco) and on
appropriate and respectful ways to ask for help, for
knowledge, or for information within tribal communities.
Beadwork
Ojibwe beadwork - and in particular the floral designs found
throughout the woodlands - has become the foundational
graphic design element which visually weaves this archive
together. The beadwork seen in the main interface of this
CD-ROM is derived from an early 20th century vest on display
at the Madeline Island Museum, Madeline Island,
Wisconsin.
Introduction
This section introduces the CD showing place names of the
communities involved participating in this project through
interviews and consultation and review...
Choose the Main Menu flower and click once to explore the
main content of the program.
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MAIN
MENU
From the Main Menu you can explore all the contents of this
CD-ROM.
As you roll the cursor around the Main Menu screen - the
names of each available content area will appear. In the
outer circle you will see SEASONS. Overlaying the whole
MainMenu are the four themes: FAMILIES, LANGUAGE, CEREMONY,
and THE LAND. The inner circles hold the TIMELINE and the
SPEAKERS section. Click once on the name of a content area
to go to that place in the archive. A small Main Menu icon
appears in the upper left hand corner throughout the program
and will always bring you back to the Main Menu. Wherever
you are in the archive, explore with your cursor and choose
from highlighted names and icons to hear stories, or return
to the Main Menu and choose a different area that is of
interest to you.
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Four
Central Themes
On the four feathers overlaying the circular Main Menu are
thematic, multi-voiced stories on four themes that are
central to Ojibwe and all Native American communities:
Families, Language, Ceremony, and The Land. These are
stories about survival as Ojibwes and about surviving
culture. Available within each of these themes are branching
stories that relate to the main themes and allow students to
explore certain contemporary issues in more detail.
In each of the four thematic stories you can listen to a
series of speakers build the whole story. At anytime during
the story - by using the arrows to the right of the speaker
pictured - you can "fast forward" or "rewind" to a
particular speaker or "pause" for discussion. You can also
interrupt the main story by choosing one of the branching
stories highlighted in the sidebar menu.
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FAMILIES
Tribal members reflect on family life as being the
foundation and core of traditional education. Although
government initiatives such as mandatory boarding schools,
have historically attempted to destroy this tradition, there
is an effort to re-integrate family members of all ages into
Indian education today.
Storytelling
The vital role and purpose of storytelling as an important
teaching tool within families and communities is reflected
throughout this program. In this section Jerry Smith, a
storyteller from Lac Court Oreilles, tells about the
different kinds of stories used to pass information from one
generation to the next. From the origin stories, to other
stories which may have a moral or lesson - the stories live
within community members and are told and retold to teach
people the things they need to know in order to survive.
There are stories of all kinds told throughout this archive
of gathered speakers. Look in the Language section for a
Wenabozho story, in the Timeline for origin stories and
throughout the program for hundreds of stories told by
Ojibwe speakers who have contributed narratives to this
project.
Boarding Schools
Part of the US government's policy of assimilation was the
establishment of mandatory Indian Boarding Schools that
removed Indian children from their families and traditions
and forbade them to speak their native language. Here
Marylin Benton, an educator from Lac Court Oreilles speaks
about the history of Boarding Schools in Wisconsin.
You will also find historic information about Boarding
Schools in the Timeline and more personal stories on the
Boarding School experience in the Language theme.
New
Schools
Since the early 1970's Indian communities across the US have
been reclaiming responsibility for the education of their
children. This is just one story of the community at Lac
Court Oreilles where community members have built a Grade
school, High school, and Community College, providing
education to hundreds of students every year.
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LANGUAGE
This is a story about the loss of a native language through
suppression by enforced re-education, and about the
renaissance of the Ojibwe language through teaching in
communities today. Speakers share their thoughts on the
vital importance of reviving the Ojibwe language.
In
Ojibwe
Language teachers from two communities have helped with the
development of this branching story. This section allows you
to see some written Ojibwe, to hear the language spoken, and
to learn something about the dilemma of transcribing an oral
language. As spellings, vocabulary and local dialects vary
from community to community, it is important to recognize
how language is continually evolving. If you want to learn
to speak Ojibwe there are many community language programs
in which you can participate. (see Resources) You will also
hear Ojibwe language during your transitions from place to
place throughout the program and you will find Ojibwe
language on maps and in the Seasons Archive.
Wenabozho
Dee Bainbridge from Red Cliff, tells a story of Wenabozho (a
well known character in Ojibwe stories). You can listen to
this story in both Ojibwe and English. The English version
includes Ojibwe phrases and words and is therefore a
valuable learning opportunity for non-speakers. This story
also includes a teaching about the conditions for telling
certain stories - Wenabozho, for example, should only be
talked about when there is snow on the ground.
"All
of Indian Land Was Dancing"
Eddie Two Rivers, an Ojibwe poet now residing in Chicago
reads his poem "All of Indian Land Was Dancing" which was
written especially for this program. It is a reflection on
his childhood memories of harvesting wild rice, illustrating
how Ojibwe oral traditions continue to evolve in
contemporary poetry.
Ojibwe On Air - WOJB
WOJB is a Public Radio Station Affiliate, owned and operated
by the Lac Courte Oreilles tribe. Broadcast radio is an
important vehicle for the communication of local and
cultural information. In this section you can tune in to one
of WOJB's weekly programs, "Drum Song". WOJB is broadcast
daily throughout Northern Wisconsin on 88.9 FM.
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CEREMONY
Rather than examine specific sacred rituals, this section
focuses on the ceremony of everyday life and illuminates
certain practices that help us to know ourselves, to
understand our place in our culture and our community, and
to always be thankful for the gifts we have been given.
Traditional spiritual practices were outlawed by the
colonial government but in recent decades communities have
recovered these affirming rituals and traditional
ceremonies.
Powwow
The Powwow itself may not be a 'traditional' ceremony - but
Powwows are important community gatherings. The Powwow is a
time to meet old friends and family members, to eat
together, to dance together, and to practice ceremony. At a
Powwow, community members are often honored and drummers and
dancers carry on tradition in a public space created for
gathering where everyone is welcome.
Giveaway
The exchange of gifts is a recognized way to express
appreciation or thanks at any time. Giveaways are not
necessarily ceremonial but accompany a variety of community
events. There is the more formal Giveaway ceremony that you
might see at a Powwow or social gathering where one family
offers gifts to many members of the community in order to
share their "wealth" or good fortune and to give thanks - or
a Giveaway can be a more personal, informal kind of sharing
between two people.
Feasts
Gathering together to share a meal is nourishing in many
different ways. At an Ojibwe feast the food is honored as a
sacred gift from the earth. The Feast is an important part
of many ceremonies and events, and the sharing of foods that
are sacred to Ojibwe people affirms their ceremonial way of
life.
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THE
LAND
In these stories tribal members reflect on the connections
between Ojibwe woodland culture, and the land and natural
resources in Northern Wisconsin. While traditional life and
ongoing subsistence gathering have affirmed treaty rights in
Northern Wisconsin throughout the 20th century - it is also
important to understand Indigenous land rights within the
larger context of a cultural responsibility to protect the
earth for future generations.
Madeline Island (sacred
land)
Here we learn of Madeline Island or Mooniingwanekaniing, the
location where the megis shell appeared to Ojibwe people on
their migration back from the Atlantic coast to the Great
Lakes. Mooniingwanekaniing is the heart of Ojibwe homelands
in Northern Wisconsin and central to Ojibwe stories and
traditions.
Treaty Rights
Many of the 200 treaties signed by the US government and
Indian Nations guaranteed Indians perpetual rights to their
land and resources both on reservations and in the
territories ceded to the United States Government. Tribal
Nations across the US have continually been forced to
re-affirm those treaty rights in the courts, in order to
protect and have access to food and other sacred resources.
During the 1980's in Northern Wisconsin, treaty rights to
spearfish became a focus of conflict and resulted in a
federal case affirming spearfishing and other food gathering
rights in Ojibwe ceded territory in Wisconsin. The
spearfishing controversy was also the beginning of new
alliances between Indian and non-Indian people with a common
interest in respecting and preserving the land and
Wisconsin's natural resources.
Mining
Large scale Mining projects are a threat to communities
around the world. This story is about one Northern Wisconsin
community, Mole Lake, which is challenging the proposed
Exxon mine which is threatening ancient wild rice beds,
access to clean water, and a healthy environment for future
generations. You will find more about the long history of
the quest for minerals and ownership of natural resources
around the world in the Timeline, but this story about Mole
Lake will give you a sense of the contemporary issues facing
many communities in their struggle to protect the earth.
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SEASONS
Around the outermost circle encompassing the Main Menu is
the Seasons archive, containing over 100 historic
photographs from the Milwaukee Public Museum. These valuable
images document seasonal activities in Ojibwe communities
and throughout the ceded territories. Each archive
photograph is accompanied by contemporary narrative from
knowledgeable Ojibwe speakers who carry on the seasonal work
that Milwaukee Public Museum photographers documented in the
early half of this century. Extensive biographical
information on each of the photographers is available from
within the caption for each specific image. Each of the
seasonal archives also includes a story on the continuation
of these traditions by tribal members today.
Most of the photographs in this collection date from between
1915 - 1940 and provide an important record of ongoing
subsistence gathering in Northern Wisconsin including:
making Maple Sugar, making Canoes, Powwow, Crafts, and
harvesting Wild Rice.
Click once on the section of the Seasonal archive you would
like to visit. Once inside the archive use the arrows at the
bottom left to page through the available contact sheets.
The slideshow icon at the bottom right will automatically
play through a sequence of all of the photos in any archive
section with accompanying narration. You can interrupt the
slideshow at anytime by clicking on the full screen picture
and returning to the contact pages.
Click within the contact sheet on any image to display the
full screen of that photograph. Roll the cursor to the
bottom of the screen to access caption information. Click
the LISTEN button on the left for audio narration and on the
photographer's name on the right for biographical
information on a particular photographer.
The main speaker for each archive section is pictured at the
lower left of the archive sidebar. Click on the speaker to
hear a contemporary story about the activities pictured in
each seasonal archive section.
Also available in the SEASONS archive are:
Month names in Ojibwe
Encircling the photographic seasonal archives, are the names
of the months in English and Ojibwe. Here students are able
to see how in Ojibwe, each month name is descriptive of the
seasonal changes and the subsistence activities that are
ongoing from month to month.
As you roll your cursor around the outer circle you will see
month names in English - click on each month to hear the
name of the month in the Ojibwe language and see it written
in Ojibwe with the corresponding meaning of the word in
English.
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TIMELINE
The Timeline is an overview of historic events. This section
aims to:
- Explore primary historical documents in context with
Ojibwe perspectives - where speakers narrate the impact of
policies and events on Ojibwe life.
- Position Great Lakes history within the larger
geographical context of North American and World events.
- Put into perspective a small part of the story of
"how things came to be" the way they are today.
Each Timeline era contains overlays for events and dates at
three levels: Local (Great Lakes), North America, and the
World. Within each of these overlays certain events open to
a variety of primary resources including: maps, historic
documents, and oral histories from Ojibwe speakers.
From the MainMenu, if you choose the Timeline you will find
yourself in another menu where you can choose which era you
would like to enter and explore. Click once on the era of
your choice and there will be a short audio visual
transition that will take you to the part of the timeline
you have chosen. There are main screen events visible as you
enter each era - if you click on the Local, N. America or
World icons, you will see the overlays for each of these
different contexts. Wherever there is a bead you can click
for further resources: narrative from Ojibwe speakers, maps,
and scrolling text documents.
You can control the narrative with the buttons to the right
of the speaker pictured. All text documents can be scrolled
normally or closed by clicking on the close button in the
upper left of the text window. If you see a forward arrow in
the upper right of the text box then there is more than one
text document to view. You can always close all resources by
clicking on the same bead that opened them. You can return
to the Timeline era chooser by clicking on the word TIMELINE
in the upper left of the sidebar.
-10,000-1400
Food on the Water
This time period focuses on the changing landscape, origin
stories and early migrations of people. At the world level
we also begin to see the development of early Christian
empire-building in concert with the development of nation
states - and the evolving rationale for occupying foreign
lands for trade and profit. These early assumptions were the
seeds of European "discovery doctrine" which established the
framework of perceptions and structures within which we work
and live even today.
1400-1650
Colonial Meetings
The first recorded 'meetings' with the French voyageurs in
the Great Lakes, were not so much about land acquisition as
trade - but other early stories of Indigenous encounters
with French, Spanish, English and Portuguese explorers in
the Americas have common roots. Here we look at the impact
of a variety of those international encounters on indigenous
inhabitants, including the effects of settlement and trade
on the land and resources, the devastation of local
populations by disease, and the unfolding economic,
political and social relationships between European and
Indigenous Nations in the Americas.
1650-1825
Territorial Imaginings
While European Nation States competed for land and resources
in the "New World" - Indigenous Nations in the Great Lakes
made international agreements with successive French,
British, and American Colonial Governments. This is the era
of the first European and very early United States "mapping"
of North America, which created conflict and shifting
alliances, locally, regionally and internationally. It
should be noted that this geographical re-mapping coincides
with other developing "imaginings" and policies of emerging
European and U.S. governments, attempting to re-educate
native peoples away from the concept of communally held
lands in preparation for removals, allotments, and
relocation.
1825-1871
Struggle to Remain
This era is often referred to as "the treaty period" - when
international treaty negotiations took place between
sovereign Indigenous Nations and the American Colonial
Government. It was also a time of re-mapping boundaries,
removals of people from their traditional homelands, and the
creation of reservations in the ceded territories. In this
era we also explore early US National policies on the
re-education and assimilation of Indian people in a newly
forming United States of America.
1871-1930
Land and Resources
With the industrial era in full swing, the land and
resources of North America were under the threat of awesome
developmental pressures. Massive logging and mining
operations decimated virgin land in the Great Lakes and
surrounding territories, transforming the landscape forever,
in order to support the westward expansion of European and
American settlers and build urban centers like Chicago. In
the latter years of this era, economic depression demanded a
return to subsistence gathering and the development of a
tourism industry in Northern Wisconsin. This era also
includes early legal disputes over established treaty rights
as tribal members are harassed in their everyday hunting and
gathering activities and forced to take their to state and
federal courts.
1934-2000
Return to Sovereignty
The latter part of this era is characterized by re-thinking
and renaissance culturally, socially and politically. With
realization of the failure and wrong-thinking of
assimilation and allotment - comes the first re-affirmation
and recognition of sovereignty which throughout the 20th
century has evolved and been led by Indian people
themselves. As the general public begin to accept the
challenges presented by extreme environmental degradation
worldwide - and with the advent of new technologies - people
of all origins have begun to work together to imagine new
ways forward. Approaching the year 2000, there is building
momentum for a return to sovereignty as communities
re-examine sustainable models for future generations.
SPEAKERS
At the heart of the Main Menu you will see a circle named
Speakers. This section holds biographical information about
each of the main Ojibwe speakers who have participated in
the making of this program. Here the listener will find
other kinds of stories and more personal oral histories such
as how one elder received her name "Biwabakus" which holds
the meaning for all the wires and cables that connect us by
telephone and electricity - these stories carry reflections
on technology, education and the making of this project.
When you choose the Speakers button at the center of the
main menu you will go to a menu with 25 of the main speakers
pictured. By clicking on one of the speakers you will go to
a biography page for that speaker. Roll over the map at the
lower left of the sidebar and click to see where each
speaker comes from. To return to the Speakers menu click
once on Speakers in the upper left of the sidebar. To return
to the Main Menu click once on the Main Menu icon.
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QUIT
At the lower right of the Main Menu is a Quit or exit
button. This button allows you to quit the program. You will
go automatically to the Credits sequence. At anytime during
this sequence you can choose Quit to close the program.
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